Games already impacted by recession - NPD
Decline in growth of industry put down to global economic downturn particularly in the US
NPD Group's senior account manager, Michael Klotz has warned the games industry that sales are already being impacted by the recession during the Game Business Law summit, hosted at SMU's law school, Texas.
Klotz explained that while the industry was still growing it should be mirroring the much greater amounts of growth experienced earlier in the year, according to GameDaily, and that the reason it hasn't is due to the global economic downturn.
"Previously, people thought that games might be recession-proof," Klotz said. "We're already being affected by the recession."
According to Klotz, August of 2008 saw 9 per cent growth, while September saw a 7 per cent decline followed by 12 per cent growth in October and by November growth was down to 8 per cent.
"The game industry is growing, but it has been impacted by the recession... We probably would have seen even more growth if it hadn't been impacted by the current economic climate in the US."